


There's A Man In The Woods

by Tortellini



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Kids Misbehaving, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Middle School, Alternate Universe - School, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Trauma, Cute Kids, Drama, Elementary School, F/F, F/M, Gen, Horror, Kid Fic, Lesbian Character, M/M, Meddling Kids, Middle School, Mystery, Nonbinary Character, Psychological Horror, Scary, Teaching, There's A Tag For That, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 05:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11593776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tortellini/pseuds/Tortellini
Summary: (Written for Halloween 2016)First grade teacher Ivan Braginsky's life slowly starts to unravel when one of his students claims a stranger with malicious intent was seen on school grounds.Oneshot





	There's A Man In The Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by ["There's a man in the woods"](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/310188) by CalArts Character Animation Student Films (YouTube). 



> Sealand = Peter; Wy = Charlotte; Liechtenstein = Lili (not a micronation but still young); Latvia = Raivis (not a micronation but still young); Seborga = Romeo; Ladonia = Isak; Republic of N. Cyprus = Ahmed; KugelMugel = Franz 
> 
> Franz's parents = AusHun

> 1. 

"There's a man in the woods." Ivan Braginsky says. His face is lined and tired, and he wears a large beat-up coat. He gets into a rickety truck, and as soon as he was there, he's gone again. 

> 2. 

Ivan Braginsky counted himself lucky when he became a teacher. It was sort of hard at first, because it was obvious English was not his first language. But the kids were sweet, and he loved them immediately. 

The school is a good school. Ivan can tell that from the start. He gets a job teaching first graders. 

Everyday for recess he takes them down to the edge of the woods right near the school. Ivan is careful to keep a close eye on the children of course; no one can ever accuse him of being neglectful. There's a patch of honeysuckle near by, and the kids like to pick it and eat it. 

Peter offers some to Charlotte, who blushes and grabs the sweet treat out of his hands. It's cute. Franz, pale and serious and small with his long hair, draws close by to Ivan, not bothering with the others. Lili sticks close to Peter too -- he's the leader of the kids, it seems. Sometimes some of the older kids spend their recess helping Ivan watch the little ones too. There's a seventh grader Romeo, who sits on the ground and jokes around with the kids; and Raivis, a fifth grader, sickly-looking and deathly shy. 

They're all good kids. Well...

Except for Isak. Now Ivan wouldn't have said Isak was a bad kid if you asked him. He was Peter's adopted brother, and Ivan didn't know his story but he guessed it had been hard. Now his parents -- two men, one a cinnamon roll and the other pretty scary -- were nice people. Ivan had met them before, and they doted on their boys. But Isak was a trouble maker. Even though he was still young, he liked to make trouble, to be difficult, for both Ivan and the other kids. 

Things seem to escalate at recess. 

Like all the other kids, Isak liked the honeysuckle. No one blamed him for that. Not until he started to take the plants from other children. Ivan interferes when he makes Lili cry. He's afraid Isak isn't going stop. Sadly, he's right.

"Mr. B." Isak tugs on his coat. Ivan turns and smiles down at him. Raivis looks at them a few feet away, looking anxious. Isak swallows, parting chapped lips, before continuing bravely. "Mr. B, there's a man in the woods!"

"...what?" Raivis walks closer to them, looking more scared, and a little ways off Romeo stands up. 

Ivan crosses his arms. He doesn't believe him; after all, he's just a child. Ivan loves these kids, all of them, and he'd sacrifice himself a hundred times to make sure they were safe. But this? "Oh really now?"

Isak looks around and sees he has an audience. "Yes," he continues. "I saw him. He was a bad man." 

"W-we have to get the kids out of here." Raivis says nervously. Ivan sighs, but he knows they're scared. He won't scare his kids. 

"Recess is ending," he calls to the ones still at the edge of the woods. Raivis goes to get Peter and Charlotte and Lili, Romeo too, and Franz stands up, his arms full of his drawing things. 

Ivan feels like he's the only one to see Isak smile in the way he does. His eyes are mean. 

> 3. 

The news of the man in the woods gets around the small school quickly. The history teacher, Louise Beilshmidt, an ex-military woman too serious for her years, approaches Ivan. Her partner is the older sister of Romeo. 

"What's this about a murderer by your class, Braginsky?" 

Ivan doesn't know how to answer that at first. "Ah, you have heard too. It is nothing. I will keep them safe. Do not worry." 

She's a good woman, and believes him. But it doesn't stop there. 

The gym teacher, Sadik Adnan, comes in after her. He's much more brash -- his son Ahmed is a year younger than the class Ivan teaches. 

"What the hell are you telling these kids?" 

Ivan jumps at his desk. "What are you talking about?" 

The other man crosses his arms. He's about as big as Ivan, probably more muscular. "My son comes home cryin' because some kid said there was a murderer loose in the school. Kid was from your class too. What the hell--"

"I will be taking care of it." Ivan stands up and attempts to show Sadik to the door. "Do not worry." 

"You better take care of it." But he leaves. 

> 4. 

Tensions rise in Ivan's class too. Most of the kids are scared. At recess, they all hang out around him, around the school, instead of going down to the woods. Well, except for Isak. It makes Ivan angry, knowing that this really isn't real. He's a selfish boy. 

"Mr. B.?" Peter holds onto his coat, and Ivan bends down to the boy's height. "Will Isak be okay? Is the man in the woods going to get him?" 

"Peter--" 

"Mr. B., I don't like this." Franz says simply. Lili and Charlotte step closer to him too. 

Ivan put his hands on the boys' shoulders, ushering the girls closer too. "Listen, children, very carefully. Yes?" They nod, watching him in kind awe. "You are safe. I will not let anything bad happen to you. But there is no man." 

"What?!" They are shocked and outraged. 

"Please, just think about it reasonably--"

"Mr. B.! Mr. B.!"

In surprise, they all turn to see Isak, his face white. He runs up the hill, and Peter goes to help his brother. 

"He had a gun! I swear!" 

Lili bursts into tears. Franz's lower lip trembles. Ivan takes them back inside. 

> 5. 

Then the teacher conferences start. 

Peter and Isak's fathers. Lili's terrifying, gun-toting brother. Franz's parents -- rich, well mannered. Charlotte's brother and his partner. 

All of them...are outraged, scared, even more so than their children. Ivan begs them to listen to reason: he tells them he loves their children dearly, that he wouldn't ever put them in real harms way. But this just isn't real! It can't be! Isak is a greedy child, and he's making this up -- Tino and Berwald, his parents, and Peter, they just don't see that. They see fear and disbelief. 

Raivis' brother, and Romeo's brother and sister and called too. Louise and Sadik sit down and talk to Ivan, Sadik holding his son on his hip. Everything is tense.

Tino Väinämöinen sits down in front of Ivan, at the end. Berwald and Peter aren't there; but Isak is. 

They don't look alike. But then again they're not biologically related. Tino is small and blonde, with gentle eyes; and Isak, skinny, with a mop of red hair, and freckles. Even a scar on his cheek (or some of Franz' paint, Ivan could never really tell). But now, Isak isn't smiling and neither is Tino. In fact Tino looks as angry as he's ever seen him. 

"I don't know why you're not taking my son's claims seriously, Mr. Braginsky." Tino says in a low voice. 

"Mr. Väinämöinen," Ivan stumbles over his last name, but he guesses it would be inappropriate to simply call him by his first. "I care very deeply for the children in my class. They're all protected. And I'd feel terrible if this was a real threat." 

"A real threat?" Tino's eyes flash. "Are you saying my son is a liar?! He wouldn't do that! How dare you!" 

"Please, just listen to reason--" 

But he wouldn't. None of them would. Next Ivan is called to the principal of the school. He likes Yao Wang: he's a no-nonsense type of man. Fair. 

"I'm sorry, Ivan." Yao says, and Ivan looses hope. "You're scaring these people." 

"I care for their kids..."

"I believe you." The Asian man says. At least he does. "But I'm afraid they'll take their kids out of the school. We really can't have that." He sighs. "I wish you the best of luck." 

He knows he's fired. 

Ivan goes home. He no longer has a job and can't pay the rent for his apartment. He starts to drink again. He's scared, unhappy, and most of all he misses the kids. 

The parents couldn't believe their kids could cock up some sort of lie like this? Single file lines... Single file lies. 

He gets evicted. He is completely ruined. So Ivan Braginsky does the only thing he can think of doing. He goes back to the school, through the woods. Along the way he picks up a long rusted piece of metal, careful not to cut himself on it. His eyes are bloodshot and yellow, his skin sallow and ill-looking. 

He sees Isak sitting at the edge of the woods, head down, picking honey suckle. He smiles. 

"Isak," he murmurs, and the boy looks up in surprise and fear. "There's a man in the woods."

 


End file.
